At the beginning of my career, I focused on developing my technical skills.
That was normal, but the more experience I gained the more obvious it became that company culture is supremely important to business success.
If fact, it is maybe the most important thing. It impacts every part of the business. From core values to hiring decisions to decision-making.
I soon came to understand that culture needs to come before everything else. All else flows out of the culture of your company.
Building a productive and healthy culture is a giant task. In startups that is especially so because change is so common. Culture can give direction and allow for better decisions.
I’ve seen very solid companies go off the rails because their culture changed because of an ownership and/or management change.
A good, positive productive right culture can be established at any company with the right approach.
There are three characteristics that a positive culture should possess: trust, openness, and reciprocity.
Trust increases productivity and accountability. When people trust each other – especially the company leaders – then they can focus on getting the things done that have the greatest impact.
Trust means they will get the pay increase or promotion they deserve. They can concentrate on doing a great job and not worry about politics. Without trust, there will be office games.
Openness means every person can introduce new ideas and disagree with those ideas they don’t like. If people are afraid to speak up when they see something, bad ideas, and mistakes will get passed through unchallenged. The company will be harmed. People should not be afraid to speak up.
I’ve seen many, many, many companies where employees, associates, and colleagues are in fear. Maybe most of them. In a bad culture, if the boss says the sky is bright fluorescent lime green when it is really blue, they will agree with the boss. This can be devastating to a company in the long run.
Giving back is just as important as making money. Making money is very important because a business can’t survive without it. However organizational research has repeatedly shown that people perform better with greater energy and determination if the company’s mission is about something bigger than itself. Whether it be a better environment, solving a problem for many people, or some other laudable goal.
When people on your team know that together you are accomplishing more than just making shareholders rich, they respond in a way that makes shareholders rich. They are excited and passionate about what they are doing. That’s a win for everyone.
